Monthly Archives: June 2015

The skeptic Descarte had something else in mind than spiritual matters when he made the statement, “I think, therefore, I am.” What he should have been thinking was, “I think, therefore, I sin.” Every living soul should cry out as Paul, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from the body of this death?” (Rm 7:24).

We sin ourselves into death. We cannot help ourselves. It is simply being human, the way we were created as free-moral individuals. We were not created sinners, nor with the taint of sin. Our freedom to make choices simply allows us the opportunity to be the best we can be, but it also allows us to make the worst decisions possible to bring sin and suffering, not only into our own lives, but also into the lives of others. We are truly wretched. Paul’s words were not an exaggeration of what we can become.

We do not conclude that the Son of God failed to know what sinners we would become in a world that offered all sorts of opportunities to think and do evil. He knew the risk before the first grain of dust was transformed into flesh. He knew that with the creation of a truly free individual there would come a tremendous risk. That risk was the loss of a beautiful infant growing into adulthood, and then going into sin, and subsequently lost forever. It is as a parent who invests everything possible in a child, but then the child wanders away. Jesus knew that there were no guarantees that all His created creatures would choose to remain in fellowship with their Creator.

So with the risk, and to guard against a truly free person making bad choices, Jesus embedded within our psyche the option of not choosing evil. It is called conscience. In order to stand just in condemning the wicked, but rewarding the righteous with eternal glory, our Creator laid the responsibility for eternity upon the shoulders of each individual who should at least follow his own conscience. With conscience, therefore, came the responsibility that one must take ownership of his eternal destiny. Conscience must send one on a journey to discover his Creator. This was the road of adventure Paul sought to set us on in Romans 1:20:

For the invisible things of Him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and divinity, so that they are without excuse.

Our Creator knew that in our arrogance and rebellion, we would go wrong. It is not that we inherently seek evil, but the options to satisfy our own lusts often overcome our desire to do that which is right. We ignore our conscience and go wrong. We trash all the evidence of His existence that is irrefutably embedded in the created world (Se Ps 8; Rm 1:20). We are thus in trouble, for it is not possible for sinful creatures to dwell in the presence of God.

We would not think that we were created hopeless beings who are always stained with sin. God would be fiendish if creation occurred without an opportunity for reconciliation. Therefore, in order to remain a truly free-moral individual, we must take ownership of the opportunity of His offer for reconciliation, just as we took the opportunity to sin.

Taking ownership of our eternal destiny was made possible through our Creator’s love offering that should draw unto Him those who seek to stand right before their Creator. Reconciliation was a matter of revealing an open demonstration of love, and then allowing our conscience to take it from there. And no matter how wretched we could become in sin, He, through His demonstration of love and grace, could create us anew. It would be creation all over again, not of the physical, but of the spiritual. We could once again be a new creation. Here is how the Holy Spirit worded it:

Therefore, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new (2 Co 5:17).

In another statement He gives an expanded explanation.

Therefore, we are buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised up from the dead through the glory of the Father, even so we also might walk in newness of life (Rm 6:4).

The new creature (creation) that walks in newness of life is not something that is created by the legalities of our performance of His law. Neither is it bargained for or bought by the offering of our good deeds. And just in case we might claim our newness in Christ as our gift to ourselves, the Spirit again said, “For neither circumcision accomplishes anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation” (Gl 6:15). Since we cannot “circumcise ourselves into Christ,” then it is our challenge to discover how to become a new creature according to the road map of God.

In order to be created anew, Jesus again must remain our Creator. We cannot declare to be new creations by the power of our works, or the work of our declaration to “receive Jesus.” Creation is the business of God. And unless we want to steal away from the Son of God the work of creation, then we need to throw ourselves into His word and discover how He creates us anew in Him. We are new creatures only when He declares that we are such. “Sinner’s prayers” reveal repentance. But new creatures are created by the Son of God, not by the meritorious words of a declared “sinner’s prayer.”

Jesus is the origin of all creation. He was the origin of the material world (Cl 1:16). And now, He is the origin of the new creation. Those who have washed themselves in His blood come forth from the waters of burial with all their sins washed away (At 22:16). It is He who cleans us up with His blood. It is He who keeps us clean by His blood (1 Jn 1:7). We can take no credit for the washing, though we have relinquished ourselves to the burial. The burial is our part, but the washing is all His. For this reason, He must be given all glory for the newness of life in which we walk because His cleansing of our sins does not stop when we have dripped dry after baptism.

Our gratitude inspires our discipleship. We continually walk in the light of His word in order to be continually cleansed by His blood (1 Jn 1:7). This is the rewarding life of being a disciple of Jesus. Our confidence is not in ourselves, but in the power of His blood to keep us continually as new creatures in His presence.

As we journey through His description of the new creatures we have become, we are taken on an inspirational journey that always ends in joy. The more we understand the nature of this new creation that walks in newness of life—this is us—the more we are encouraged to continue our journey into eternity in His loving arms.

Africa International Missions (AIM) is seeking to inform church leaders around the world of the special opportunity to receive the 2015 edition of theBiblical Research Library (BRL). (There are 65 books printed in this one large volume.) We have received enough funds to subsidize half the cost of printing and shipping. So the pelletized shipment of 300 copies of the BRL can be shipped to any sea port in the world at your cost of US$1,500. To date, we have printed and distributed over 75,000 copies of the BRL volumes. This 2015 edition is revised and enlarged with ten more books.

GENERAL INFORMATION:

We previously printed and distributed full 20-foot shipping containers of the BRL to start twelve Bible Resource Centers (BRC). However, the cost of receiving this amount of material hindered many churches and mission groups from starting their own BRC in their area. So we have worked out a printing and shipping arrangement with our printer/distributor, Amity Printing of Nanjing, China. This system is the option of sending smaller consignments of 300 volumes of the Biblical Research Library in a single shipment. The subsidized cost of this shipment is US$1,500 for the recipient, which is half the cost of printing and shipping. This offer is to anyone anywhere in the world who would like to receive a shipment. (Your country must be serviced by a sea port, or you must have road access to a sea port in another country.)

We encourage everyone who receives the materials to sell the Biblical Resource Library volumes in order to pay the US$1,500, plus all your import tax. If anyone wants to register as a Bible Resource Center, the materials must be sold at market value in order to support the operation of the BRC. We encourage everyone to sell the BRL in order to encourage spiritual growth among Christians in your area. In order to develop spiritual growth among church leaders, individuals must take financial ownership of their spiritual growth. Those who subsidized these shipments seek to join recipients in a financial partnership that gives church leaders the opportunity to take ownership of their spiritual growth. This is the type of volume that is not to be given away. Those who receive it must pay something, for it is a volume for Bible teachers and preachers.

Anyone who would like to start a Bible Resource Center in their area can take advantage of this offer. When an offer as this is made, Africa International Missions seeks to pay for at least half of the cost of printing and shipping of the materials that it offers. But the recipients must pay up front their partnership funds, which funds are to be wired directly to Amity Printing if you reside outside the United States. If you resident in South Africa, then the funds are sent to the AIM’s SA account. If the recipient resides within the United States, Amity Printing has an account in New York.

If a particular mission, or network of churches do not want to start a Bible Resource Center, they may still pay the US$1,500 and receive a shipment. There is no obligation to start at Bible Resource Center in your area in order to take advantage of this offer. In the future we will offer the Teacher’s Bible on the same basis, though the cost of the shipment will be different.

We must print a minimum of 5,000 of Biblical Research Library volumes in order to receive from the printer this pricing. This means that we must receive at least sixteen (16) requests for the Bible Teacher’s Power Pallet.

All requests must be made known by SEPTEMBER 1ST

All funds must be made available for wiring by OCTOBER 1TH

IMPORTANT!

We cannot go to press with the printing until we receive sixteen (16) requests for shipments.

RECIPIENT FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITIES:

As a recipient of the Bible Teacher’s Power Pallet, you must pay in full the US$1,500 cost to partner in the subsidized cost of printing. The subsidized cost means that you are receiving the BRLs at your port for US$5.00 each.

As a recipient, the FULL amount of US$1,500 must arrive as payment into the account of Amity Printing. You must not forget that you must pay for the wiring fees. If less than US$1,500 arrives at the bank of destination, you will not receive the shipment until the full among is in the Amity account.

ALL PAYMENTS MUST BE READY TO BE WIRED BY OCTOBER 1ST. No late payments will be accepted. If you cannot make this printing, can wait for the 2016 printing.

If your funds do not arrive before this date, your requested consignment will be automatically cancelled.

IMPORTANT: Africa International Missions is financially responsible to get the shipment to your sea port. After arrival at your sea port, you are totally responsible for all cost of customs and distribution from the sea port. Under no circumstances will Africa International Mission be responsible for any cost of importation of the shipment, or the cost of transporting the material to your center for distribution.

These are volumes that must be sold. We do not encourage giving the books free to anyone. Also, we do not encourage you as the recipient to release any book to any person on credit.

CONSIGNMENT PROCESSING:

Africa International Missions must have the commitment of 16 recipients, BEFORE the printing begins.

Once the printing begins, it takes 8 weeks to complete the printing, and one month for the shipment to be made to all recipients. (Amity Printing will keep everyone informed concerning dates of shipment and arrival of shipments at your port.)

You cannot participate in this effort unless you have an active email. Documentation and correspondence all depend on active emails. Smart phone communication will not work. (We will not respond to any Facebook messaging.) You must have a computer and active email in order that PDF bills and lading and waybills can be sent to you for reception of shipments.

Shipments are made to sea ports only. If you do not have a sea port in your country, then this offer probably does not apply to you. However, the amount of material that is shipped in the consignment can fit in a small truck. If your country is serviced by the sea port of another country, you may be able to drive to the sea port and collect the shipment.

STARTING A BIBLE RESOURCE CENTER:

If you want to start a Bible Resource Center (BRC) with this shipment, please keep in mind that you will have to sell the volumes for enough funds to pay for the subsidized cost of the next shipment. We encourage everyone to start their own BRC. In this way, individuals can partially support themselves in selling the materials of Africa International Missions. (Materials include the Teacher’s Bible,Biblical Research Library and Mission Bible.)

In order to start a BRC, you must reach out to all religious groups in your area. Sales to one religious group only will not work.

If you want to start a BRC, you must register with Africa International Missions in order that we keep you informed concerning future shipments.

Acts 2 marks a paradigm shift from the Old Testament era to the New Testament era. All history of God’s people that took place before the Pentecost of Acts 2 would be judged by their living under the Old Testament law. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are records of Jesus’ ministry under the Old Testament law in order to prepare Israel for His ascension to the right hand of God to assume all authority from throne of David.

It is difficult to determine the year for the crucifixion of Jesus, and thus, the year for the establishment of the church in Acts 2 in reference to our calendar today. In order to come to some conclusions concerning the year of the Acts 2 Pentecost and establishment of the church, however, there are some specific historical facts that we should know. These are historical facts that we cannot ignore, neither can we discount them because of any previous assumptions, or mistakes on the part of past scholarship. It is the objective of the biblical scholar to absorb all known facts concerning a proposition. Objective minds seek to base beliefs on facts, regardless of traditional beliefs. Therefore, we are challenged with the following points in order that we draw a conclusion for ourselves concerning the date of the Acts 2 Pentecost and the establishment of the church.

A. Jesus was crucified during the Passover Feast.

There is little controversy over the fact that Jesus was crucified during the Passover feast of the Jews, though there is some debate over the exact day of the week Jesus ate the Passover feast with the disciples. The Passover lamb was traditionally eaten on the 14th of Nisan, on Friday evening before the Sabbath and the Pentecost that followed the Sabbath. Because the 14th of Nisan was determined by the new moon, it would be very difficult to determine the exact day in reference to our calendar today when Jesus ate His last Passover meal with His disciples. The biblical text is not clear as to when Jesus ate this meal with His disciples. Because the New Testament writers left us little information on this subject, we would conclude that the Holy Spirit does not want us to ponder the matter in reference to an exact day, even the exact day of the week Jesus ate the Passover feast with the disciples. Our focus should be on the event, and that He was three days in the tomb as He prophesied (Mt 12:40), with His resurrection early on the first day of the week (Mk 16:9). The important thing to remember is that He was the Passover lamb, and the crucifixion took place during the Passover feast of the Jews.

B. Jesus visited Jerusalem on possibly three Passovers.

It is not easy to determine how many times Jesus visited Jerusalem during His adult earthly ministry. For this reason, it is difficult to determine the length of His earthly ministry. Estimates for the length of the ministry have been anywhere from two and a half to five and a half years. Since the record of the gospel according to John seems to be the most historical in recording the number of visits Jesus made to the feasts of the Jews, we use his document to establish a possible number of visits Jesus made to Jerusalem during His ministry.

First visit to Jerusalem: During His ministry, Jesus first went up to Jerusalem for the Passover that is mentioned in John 2:13. This visit took place after the first signs of Jesus in Capernaum (Jn 2:11). We are not told how long He was into His ministry when He made this trip, but we could assume that it was about six months.

Second visit to Jerusalem: There is another “feast of the Jews” mentioned in John 5:1 when Jesus again went up to Jerusalem. However, the difficulty is to determine whether this was the annual Passover feast or another feast of the Jews. Some have suggested that this “feast of the Jews” could have been the feast of Tabernacles that took place in the month Tishi. If this is true, then regardless of John 5:1 being a specific reference to the Passover, reference would be to a second trip of Jesus to Jerusalem to a feast that was an annual feast of the Jews. It would represent a year in which a second Passover visit took place in His ministry. However, we do not know if Jesus attended any other feast of Tabernacles except the one that is mentioned in John 7:2. We might assume, therefore, that the “feast of the Jews” in John 5:1 was an annual Passover feast of the Jews. However, some have also suggested that the “feast of the Jews” in John 5:1 was the feast of Dedication, or even the feast of Purim. It is difficult to determine which specific feast is intended. Nevertheless, many biblical scholars believe that John 5:1 was a Passover feast, and thus, Jesus’ second visit to Jerusalem.

Another Passover feast is mentioned in John 6:4. Because of the increased hostility that was mounting against Him, however, Jesus did not attend this Passover. John simply recorded, “He was unwilling to walk in Judea because the Jews sought to kill him” (Jn 7:1). Now what complicates the matter is the fact that this may have been the second Passover of Jesus’ ministry, not the “feast of the Jews” mentioned in John 5:1. But if the “feast of the Jews” in John 5:1 was a Passover, then John 6:4 was the third, and the John 13:1 Passover the fourth. This would make Jesus’ ministry the traditional three and a half years in length.

C. Third visit to Jerusalem: The last feast of Passover that Jesus attended is recorded in John 13:1. This was the feast during which He was crucified. Since John 2:13 was the first Passover visit, and assuming John 5:1 was a Passover, and thus the second Passover visit, with John 6:4 being a Passover that was not attended, then the John 13:1 would be the third Passover visit.

John specifically records that Jesus attended two mentioned Passover feasts, the one in John 2:13 and the one in 13:1. He did not attend the John 6:4 Passover. If the “feast of the Jews” in John 5:1 is another Passover, then He attended three during His ministry, but over a period of four Passovers, one just after the beginning and the last at the time of His crucifixion. If there were four Passovers during Jesus’ ministry, then Jesus’ ministry would have been over three years in length, possibly over four years. Assuming that He was into His ministry several months before the John 2:13 Passover visit, we conclude that His ministry was not shorter than three and a half years.

D. Jesus began His ministry when He was about thirty years old.

“Now when He began His ministry, Jesus Himself was about thirty years of age …” (Lk 3:23). Under Old Testament law, this was the common age when priests began their ministry (Nm 4:1-3,22,23,29,30). The word “about” in Luke 3:23 adds some ambiguity to the matter, but we assume that Jesus was somewhere in His 30th year at the beginning of His earthly ministry. We could assume that the Holy Spirit added the word “about” in order for us not to focus on exactly what we are doing here, that is, trying to determine an exact date for the crucifixion and establishment of the church. Nevertheless, when we add “about” thirty with the time of the earthly ministry of the preceding point, we come up with Jesus’ approximate age at the time of His death. Jesus would have been at least thirty-three years of age when He was crucified.

E. Jesus was born during the reign of Caesar Augustus.

In reference to the Roman Empire, Jesus was born when Augustus was Caesar of Rome. Luke records that a census was taken during this time, which census affected the lives of Joseph and Mary (Lk 2:1-4). It was because of this census that Joseph and Mary made their way to Bethlehem, the prophesied place of the birth of the Messiah (Mc 5:2).

F. Jesus was born during the reign of Herod the Great.

Jesus was born during the latter years of the reign of Herod the Great (Mt 2:1-6). It was Herod who commissioned the slaughter of the Bethlehem babies who were two years of age and under (Mt 2:16). He made this proclamation of genocide in order to make sure that Jesus would be included in the slaughter. However, this does not mean that Jesus was as old as two years by the time of the slaughter. It simply means that Herod was not sure about the time of birth, and thus wanted to make sure that Jesus was included in the slaughter.

In reference to the birth of Jesus, here are some historical facts that must be considered:

The testimony of encyclopedias and dictionaries: Since Jesus was born during the final days of Herod, then it is imperative that we determine the date of the death of Herod in reference to our calendar today. Now keep in mind that the establishment for the birth of Jesus is dated from our modern-day calendars. We are not judging the date from the Roman calendar, though the Roman calendar must be considered in order to determine the date of Herod’s life history. As will be pointed out later, there was a discrepancy made in affixing the Roman calendar dates with our modern-day calendar, which discrepancy was noted and corrected over a century ago. But in reference to our calendar today, all secular and biblical encyclopedias and dictionaries establish the date of Herod’s death to have occurred in Jericho the last of March in 4 B.C. The World Book Encyclopedia states, “Herod the Great (73? – 4 B.C.) ruled all Palestine from 37 to 4 B.C.” (1976, Vol. 9, p. 198). Other encyclopedias or dictionaries do not contradict this statement. Though first published in 1917, the 1939 edition of the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia states that Herod died in 4 B.C. (1939, Vol. 2, p. 668). The New Bible Dictionary affirms the 4 B.C. date, as well as A. T. Roberston in his renowned Harmony of the Gospels. Historically speaking, therefore, one will not find any encyclopedia or dictionary that will disagree with the 4 B.C. date.

The record of Josephus: Josephus was a Jewish historian whose work transitioned from the latter part of the 1st century into the 2nd century. In his Antiquities, XVII, 6, 4, he alluded to an eclipse of the moon that occurred shortly before the death of Herod. Thus the birth of Jesus could not have occurred after the death of Herod, or after this eclipse since Jesus was born during Herod’s reign. The eclipse establishes the time of Herod’s death, which eclipse also helps us to determine the time of Jesus’ birth in reference to our calendar today.

Now here are some conclusions to ponder. According to our calendar today, Herod died in 4 B.C. Jesus was about thirty years old when He began His ministry. His ministry was about three and a half years in length, which means that He was about thirty-three years old when He was crucified. We can place the birth of Jesus somewhere in the two-year window of Herod’s slaughter of babies. Add the figures and we come up with the crucifixion and establishment of the church around A.D. 30 according to our calendar today. This is the date that all current Bible resource books use in reference to the events that transpired and were recorded in Acts 2.